Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) introduced Thursday she’s going to retire from Congress on the finish of the time period in January 2027, placing a bookend on a virtually four-decade, history-making tenure within the Home.
“With a grateful heart, I look forward to my final year of service as your proud representative,” Pelosi stated in a video on social media, addressing her constituents in San Francisco.
A two-time Home Speaker and the one girl to carry the position in American historical past, Pelosi’s profession was outlined by the shepherding of main laws beneath former Presidents Obama and Biden and vocal opposition to former President George W. Bush and President Trump.
Listed below are 5 memorable moments from Pelosi’s time in Congress.
Tiananmen Sq. go to (1991)
Nancy Pelosi holds a watch on June 4, 1991 reportedly smuggled out of China. Pelosi stated the watches got to troopers who helped crush the Tiananmen Sq. protesters. (Chris Assaf, AFP by way of Getty Pictures)
Two years after protests and a subsequent authorities crackdown occurred in Beijing’s Tiananmen Sq., Pelosi accompanied then-Reps. Ben Jones (D-Ga.) and John Miller (R-Wa.) to the Chinese language capital.
Throughout their journey, the trio held a banner that stated, in English and Mandarin, “To those who died for democracy in China” within the sq..
Chinese language authorities tried to detain the lawmakers after they unfolded the banner, with seven journalists and cameramen detained for over an hour.
“We’ve been told now for two days [by Chinese officials that there is no prohibition on freedom of speech in China,” Pelosi stated after the incident, based on The Baltimore Solar. “This does not conform to what we were told.”
Shout out from Bush throughout State of the Union (2007)
President George W. Bush shakes palms with Speaker of the Home Nancy Pelosi after his State of the Union speech within the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 23, 2007. (Lawrence Jackson, Related Press file)
Within the 2006 midterms, Democrats captured a majority within the Home for the primary time in over a decade. Pelosi, the Democratic chief since 2003, turned the primary feminine Speaker in U.S. historical past.
Bush, throughout his State of the Union handle in January 2007, acknowledged the milestone.
“Tonight I have the high privilege and distinct honor of my own, as the first president to begin the State of the Union message with these words: Madam Speaker,” he stated.
The remarks have been adopted by a roughly 30-second standing ovation, together with from former Vice President Dick Cheney, as Pelosi grinned in approval.
Referencing Pelosi’s late father, former Rep. Thomas D’Alesandro Jr. (D-Md.), Bush stated that whereas D’Alesandro noticed former Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Truman ship their State of the Union addresses, “nothing could compare with the sight of his only daughter, Nancy, presiding tonight as Speaker of the House of Representatives.”
Walks out of assembly with Trump on the White Home (2019)
Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, left, and former President Trump.
Pelosi, months into her second tenure as Speaker, joined Democratic leaders for a gathering on the White Home with Trump on developments in Syria.
Lower than an hour after getting into the West Wing, Pelosi and her colleagues left. She advised reporters after that Trump “immediately started off by saying that we asked for the meeting, which we did not.”
The assembly occurred after Home Democrats, led by Pelosi, launched an impeachment inquiry into Trump over allegations he used navy support as leverage in asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to analyze Biden, his eventual 2020 election opponent.
Hours after the assembly, Trump posted a photograph of he and Pelosi arguing to the social platform X. Within the picture, Pelosi is standing up and pointing on the president, surrounded by virtually solely male Democratic and Republican lawmakers and Cupboard officers wanting on.
Trump stated the picture confirmed “Nervous Nancy’s unhinged meltdown!”
Pelosi stated, “I pray for the president all the time and I tell him that. I pray for his safety and that of his family. Now we have to pray for his health, because this was a very serious meltdown on the part of the president.”
Rips up Trump’s State of the Union handle (2020)
Then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) rips up her copy of President Trump’s third State of the Union handle after a joint session of Congress on Feb. 4, 2020.
After Trump’s closing State of the Union handle of his first time period, Pelosi stood up, ripped pages of the handle in half and positioned them on the dais.
Whereas leaving the Capitol that night time, Pelosi referred to as the speech “a manifesto of mistruths.” Trump’s remarks got here lower than two months after he was impeached by the Democratic-controlled Home.
In keeping with a 2024 biography of Pelosi written by USA Right this moment’s Susan Web page, Pelosi felt “liberated” when she ripped up the speech.
Days later, Trump referred to as the transfer “very illegal,” regardless of no clear authorized proof indicating so.
Nudges Biden to drop reelection bid (2024)
President Biden, middle proper, and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) work together throughout a Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony within the East Room of the White Home in Washington, D.C., on Could 3, 2024.
Within the early weeks after Biden’s halting debate efficiency in opposition to Trump in June 2024, Democratic officers largely hesitated to publicly name for the then-president to finish his reelection bid.
On July 10 of final 12 months, although, Pelosi declined to again the then-president’s marketing campaign.
“It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run,” she stated on MSNBC. “We’re all encouraging him to make that call, as a result of time is working quick.
After that interview, extra Democratic lawmakers referred to as on Biden to drop out. On July 21, Biden did so, with former Vice President Kamala Harris receiving Pelosi’s endorsement en path to securing the Democratic nomination.
Harris went on to lose to Trump within the November election.
